Finishing welt



April 18, 1933 R. c. SCHEMMEL. 1,904,543

FINISHING' WELT Filed Oct. 28, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet `l April 18, 1933. R.C. SCHEMMEL 1,904,543V

FINISHING WELT Filed O'Ct. 28., 1930 2 SheeLS---Sheekl 2 Patented Apr.18, 1933 OFFICE ROBERT C. SUHEMMEL, F UNION CITY, INDIANA FINISHING-WELT Application led October 28, 1930. Serial No. 491,771.

My invention relates to finishing welts of the type extensively used inthe automobile body and furniture industries for Covering the meetingedges of fabrics and in general serving as trimming elements.

My invention relates more particularly to a blind nail type of welt, i.e., a finishing strip having two principal portions, one a tackreceiving base, through which nails,

tacks, or analogous fastening means are adapted to be passed to securethe welt in position upon a support, and the other a flap which ishinged to the tack receiving base and adapted to be opened away from thebase prior to the tack inserting operation, and afterwards to be foldeddown into con tacting relation with the base to conceal the tack heads.

One object of my present invention is to y provide a Welt of thecharacter indicated which contains means inherent in the welt itself tomaintain the flap permanently in contacting relation with the base.

Another object is to provide a blind nail welt having all theefficiency, durability and attractiveness of the welts of the prior art,which may be manufactured expeditiously and at considerably reducedcost.

More specifically the present inventionY constitutes an improvement inthe type of welt covered by my United States Letters Patent No.1,528,699 issued on March 3, 1925, and contemplates a welt embodying inpart a'wire fabric of the type shown in my said patent, and in part alsoa plain fibrous fabric of the type commonly used in the manufacture ofwelts.

An especial object of the present invention is to provide a welt havingall the efficiency 40 of the welt described in my said prior patent butwhich may be more economically manufactured.

, To vthis end my present invention conteniplates the manufacture of aweltout of a minimum of the more expensive wire fabric, which isconfined to those portions of the welt where the function of the wirefabric is important, the remaining portions of the welt being formed ofwireless or plain ii brous fabric.

A further object is to provide a welt which is less bulky and cumbersomethan welts in which all the fabric covering contains Wires, so that thesubject of the present invention may more readily and neatly be disposedabout curves, and may exhibit, when disposed about a transverse curve ofrelatively short radius, a minimum lof puckering and distortion.

Other and further objects of the present invention `will be suiicientlyevident from a consideration of the accompanying drawings and thedetailed description hereinafter.

In the drawings. which form part of this application for Letters Patentand in which the same reference character designates the same part inthe several views,

Figure l illustrates an initial step in the production of a preferredform of welt made according to the presentv invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a second step in this ess;

Fig. 3 illustrates a further step;

Fig. 4 is a perspective View Ywith one end in section, of the preferredform of Welt made according to the method shown in Figures l to 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, with one end in section, of a slightlymodified form of welt, showing the welt in its opened up condition,ready to receive the fastening tacks;

Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are inverted perspective views, each with one end insection, of certain modifications. Y

Referring now to the drawings and firstto Sheet l thereof, the referencenumeral 1 designates a strip of wire fabric, which is substantiallyidentical with that disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,528,699. That isto say, the strip l consists of a textile fabric procformed in generalof woven fibrous threads of cotton or the like, but having certain ofthe weft threads, i. e., those which extend through the narrow dimensionof the strip. formed of a pliable wire 2. This wire may be of copper,annealed iron, or the like, so that the fabric which contains it may befolded transversely across the wires and may be retained in its foldedcondition by the pliability of the wires. The wires 2 are spacedregularly apart in the fabric by intervening fibrous weft threads. Theratio of wire to fibrous weft threads will depend entirely'upon thestiffness desired in the fabric, and in actual practice may be as one tofive or more.

The wire fabric l carries a coating of leatherizing dope or similarfinishing so'that the fabric is indistinguishable in appearance from aplain fibrous fabric of similar weight and finish. It is to beunderstood that the term wire fabric as used in the claims is intendedto cover the type of fabric which has just been described, and allequivalents thereof.

The reference numeral 3 designates a plain fibrous fabric, i. e., onewhich is formed entrelyl of interwoven fibrous threads and contains nowire threads. The fibrous fabric is preferably leatherized t-o conformin appearance to the fabric l, but may if desired be made to contrasttherewith by use of a different finishing color, weave or the like. Itis to be understood that the term fibrous fabric. used in the claim isintended to cover any suitable welt fabric which is devoid of pliablewire.

The two fabrics are laid together with their longitudinal edges inabutting relation, and are then sewed together by the zigzag stitch 4,as shown in Fig. l. The united fabrics are preferably next given acoating of cement on one surface of each, and a pair of fillers arepositioned on the cemented surface. The relatively large, and preferablyhalf round filler 5 is positioned along the free edge of the wirefabric. to which it may be sewed by a line of stitching 6, and asimilar, and preferably round filler 7 is laid on the fibrous fabricalong a line spaced inwardly slightly from the sewed edge of the fibrousfabric. These fillers may ne of any convenient filler material, such asrubber, twisted paper or the like.

The filler 5 and its adjacent ply of wire fabric are folded overinwardly as shown in Fig. 3 so that the filler 5 may be completelyenclosed by the wire fabric.. The free edge of the fibrous fabric isfolded over to completely enclose the smaller filler 7 and the' freeedge of the fabric is engaged by means of the adhesive coating with thesurface of the sewed edge of the wire fabric. A line of stitchin 4 8 ispassed through the ycontacting plies o the fabrics 3 andl 1 close thebase to conceal the tack heads.

to the filler 7. The flap formed by the filler 5 and its enclosing wirefabric is next folded inwardly as shown in Fig. 4. The parts are soproportioned that this last folding operation brings the free edge ofthe flap closely adjacent to the inner edge of the bead formed by thefiller 7 and its enclosing fabric, as shown in Fig. 4.

It will be appreciated that when the welt is to be applied the flap islifted from the base to more or less the position shown in Fig. 3,whereupon tacks or the like are passed through the base, and followingwhich the flap is folded down again upon By the term base is meantt-hearea of fabric between the hinged edge of the flap and the inner edge ofthe small filler. It will be appreciated that the pliable wires whichextend across the hinging connection serve to maintain the Hap in itsopen position when the tacks are being inserted, and in itsl closedposition when the tacking operation has been completed.

It will also be appreciated that the welt construction which has beenjust described effects a considerable saving in the quantity of therelatively costly wire cloth required, by limiting the use of the wirecloth to the area extending across the hinging connection between theHap and bwa.` It will also be appreciated that the construction whichhas been explained results in minimizing the'number ofV plies employedin the base portion, so that the resulting welt is made relatively thin,compact and flexible, and may be more readily and eflici'entlydisposedin transverse curves of short radius, without objectionable puckeringand distortion.

Fie. 5 illustrates a slight modification in which the meeting edges ofthe two fabrics are united in a lap joint 9 by means of a single line ofstitching l0 which passes through three plies of the fabric. In thistype of welt the free ed e of the fabric 3 is extended to the line ohinge, and there secured by a line of stitching 1l, soy that thel baseis made up of two plies of fabric presenting a finished surface on itsinner side.

Fig. 6 shows a modification of Fig. 5. In Fig. 6 fabrics 3 and 1 areunited as in Fig. 5, but the free edge of fabric 3 terminates short ofthe hinging connection between the flap and base, resulting in a slightsaving of fibrous fabric 3 and an increase in. the fiexibility of thewelt.

Fig. 7 shows a welt which is similar to that of Fig. 6, but in which thefabrics 3 and l are secured` together by a zigzag line of stitching l2which unites the fabrics in a lap joint.

The welt of Fig. S is a modification in which still less of theexpensive wirev fabric l is used. In this form of welt the fabrics 3 and1 are united in a butt joint 13 by t means of a zigzag line of stitchingand the smallerr iller 7 is positioned relatively remotely distant fromthis line of stitching, so `that the connection 13 betweenA the twofabrios occurs close to the line of hinge. The

free edge of the fabric 3 is extended to overlapthe joint l3, and twolines of stitching 8 and 11 are passed throu h the double `ply base'close to the filler 7 an the line of hinge `10 respectively, to maintainthe plies of the l base in permanently associated relation.

y Fig. 9 shows a welt which is similar to that shown in Fig. 8,excepting that inFig. 9. the free edge ofthe fibrous fabric 3 is securedto the wire fabric l a zigzag line y of stitching 14., V t Y It is to beunderstood that I have shown and described inthis application for Let* iters Patent my present invention in certain preferred forms ofembodiment onlyand V that the disclosure is given merely as an`exemplificationof the invention. Other and f further embodiments of theinvention will readily suggest themselves, and all such modications, totheextent that they incorporate the principles of the invention aspointed out in the appended claim are to be deemed within `they scope`and purview 4thereof `30. I-Iavinglthus described my presentinventionfwhat I claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent is: i 1 e fA finishing Vwelt including `a yiap filler, a strip" of wire fabric anda strip of fibrous `thread fabric united by a line of stitchingtoprovide at least one ply of thebase por-v `tion of the welt, saidstrips extending in opposite directions from the line of stitch- V ing,the fibrous thread strip being folded 4,0 back onitself and secured to,the base to form an .additional ply thereof, and the wire fabric strip`being folded around the ap filler and secured thereto to provide a t'ap `hinged to thebase and adapted to be l y; folded.v down' thereupon.

- y In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature. l l

y ROBERT C. SCHEMMEL,

Y (5Dy

